Ask any genre fan and they’ll tell you that time has most certainly been kind to John Carpenter’s work. Even Carpenter’s less successful output is revisited fondly, and his films have inspired many genre filmmakers of this generation. It’s no surprise then that the El Rey Network has chosen Carpenter as the debut subject for their new interview series, THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR, where some of the icons of the industry share their revelations about the world of filmmaking. Furthermore, Robert Rodriguez will take charge of the interview personally, which will be lead and followed by a marathon of Carpenter classics including THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13.

In anticipation of El Rey’s “Carpen-terror” event and THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR, the master of horror himself spoke to FANGORIA about where his career may be headed from here…

FANGORIA: Considering you’ve worked in television before and El Rey has reached out to you personally for THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR, would you be open to collaborating with the network in the future?

JOHN CARPENTER: I’d be open to anything. I’m game!

FANGORIA: You’ve been selective with your theatrical output as of late, with your last film being THE WARD in 2009. However, with Blumhouse and similar companies giving filmmakers freedom for low-budgets, have you considered doing any more independent-minded horror?

CARPENTER: By “independent-minded”, do you mean cheap? They’re really cheap, but yeah, they’ll let you make something.There’s two writers that I’m friends with and we pitched a project to Blumhouse, and they turned us down. So I guess I won’t be working for them.

FANGORIA: Many of your films are inspired by westerns, particularly ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 and VAMPIRES. Have you thought about making a non-genre western now that you’re in the latter stage of your career?

CARPENTER: You know what? I have thought about making a western for quite some time now. I’ve been working on one for the past few years, but I don’t know if it will get made because there’s no money to make westerns. At my age, I don’t know if I want to be around all of that horseshit when the horses pull up with the actors. It’s tough but as a director, the one thing I’ve learned from this business is to never say never. You never know.

FANGORIA: In the past year, you’ve reunited with Jamie Lee Curtis for a new commentary on the 35th anniversary Blu-ray of HALLOWEEN as well as Kurt Russell for an Empire article. Is there any actor you’ve worked with in the past that you’d like the opportunity to work with again?

CARPENTER: There’s a bunch of actors I’d like to work with. I’d love to work again with Sam Neill, as I really enjoyed working with him. I loved working with Daryl Hannah as well; she was neat to work with.

FANGORIA: Now that many of your older films are being re-released on Blu-ray, especially through Scream Factory, is there any film from your past that you might be hesitant to revisit for retrospective interviews or commentaries?

CARPENTER: Hesitant? Not particularly. I’m open, though it depends what the movie is. I’d have to play it by ear. I don’t want to make any blanket statements. I’d do commentaries, though, for sure.

The “Carpen-terror” Marathon begins today, May 10th, at 1:00 p.m. EST on the El Rey Network. THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR premieres with John Carpenter tonight at 8:00 p.m. on the El Rey Network as well.

About the author

Ken W. Hanley

Ken W. Hanley is the Managing Web Editor for FANGORIA and STARLOG, as well as the former Web Editor for Diabolique Magazine and a contributing writer to YouWonCannes.com. He’s a graduate from Montclair State University, where he received an award for Excellence in Screenwriting. He’s currently working on screenplays, his debut novel “THE I IN EVIL”, and various other projects, and can be followed on Twitter: @movieguyiguess.